Koivu leads Canadiens past Bruins

MONTREAL (Ticker) -- Captain Saku Koivu made sure the Montreal
Canadiens stayed in control of their own destiny.

Koivu had his sixth multi-goal game of the season as the
Canadiens shutout the lowly Boston Bruins, 2-0.

Defensemen Sheldon Souray, Mark Streit and Michael Komisarek
each had an assist as did rookie goaltender Jaroslav Halak, who
also posted his second career shutout for Montreal (42-32-6),
which remained in eighth place in the Eastern Conference, just
two points behind the New York Rangers (41-29-10) and the Tampa
Bay Lightning (44-32-4).

"Two more games to go, thats the way I look at it right now,"
Koivu said. We'll see how it goes and then we can think about
the rest."

Koivu scored early in the first period on the power play, when
he took a pass from Souray at center ice and and skated past two
Bruins defenders towards the Boston goal. He deked Hannu
Toivonen with his forehand before backhanding the puck past the
sprawling goaltender at the 3:14 mark of the session.

"Saku is the leader of this club," Canadiens coach Guy
Carbonneau said. "He's been here for years, he plays with
strong character and he battles."

In the third period, the Montreal captain forged a 2-0 lead when
he took a pass from Streit, cut across the left faceoff dot and
slipped a backhander through the pads of Toivonen for his 22nd
goal of the season.

"Our guy drove the net and Bruins defenseman Zdeno Chara thought
I was going to pass and I was able to just go around him and
get that backhand," Koivu said. "I think it went through the
five-hole. I was surprised that I scored because I didn't get
all of the shot."

"Koivu got two huge goals for us," Halak said. "When he scored
the second one I was relieved and the pressure was lifted."

Halak stopped all 29 shots he faced to go along with his first
official NHL point for Montreal, which has won seven of its last
eight games.

"Everybody played good on defense," Halak said. "They cleared my
rebounds and cleared my goal, I was able to see all the shots."

Toivonen made 28 saves for the Bruins, who have dropped four
straight and will finish last in the Northeast Division for the
second straight season.

"We played extremely hard, we battled, we fought and we hung
together," Bruins coach Dave Lewis said. "We just couldn't buy
a goal, we were snake bitten."